Rhetorical Analysis : 'If I Were A Boy'

For nearly twenty years, Beyoncé has lived her life in the public eye yet she has always kept her cool, been submissive, and rather quiet when it came to her personal endeavors however after releasing the film “Lemonade”, we are able to see her in a vulnerable light. In Jeremy Helliger’s article: “Dear Beyhive: Stop Whining. Beyoncé Still Hasn’t Earned Her Album Of The Year Grammy” he addresses the idea that although Beyoncé was able to encourage black women to be proud and free, she also she missed the mark by adding raunchy, over the top content to her vulnerability.

There are many artists that may contribute to the history that has lead to the development of the present day. Each different artist shows their gratitude and appreciation for the history that has lived on for many years by the style of music. For example, Beyonce’s album Lemonade illustrates the different struggles that black women had to face throughout their lifetime. However, when Beyonce’s husband Jay Z cheated on her, the album got much more personal than anybody else would think. Although, there are many different reasons for the creation of her album and what she is trying to say, many people still disagree with Beyonce’s album and argues that she is using the black feminist empowerment to make money of her album.

Beyoncé’s “Who Run the World” and Demi Lovato’s “Skyscraper” are both influential songs regarding feminism. They do not intend to offend any of their target audiences, but rather encourage them to be who they are. Even though Demi and Beyoncé might have think differently and compose different lyrics, they both write songs in which they express their feelings and relate to their fans. A lot of people, especially young girls and women, look up to them and view both of their songs not only as feminist anthems but also as life lessons. This is so because both artists have gone through some good as well as bad experiences as well as bad ones, inspiring them to write such melodies in hopes that they can promote equality and help those who are put down get back in shape and feel better about themselves.

Many of us have heard the famous single “Love The Way You Lie” which aroused a lot of controversy when it was released two years ago. Performed by famous American rapper Eminem and singer Rihanna. The song attempts to portray domestic violence and abusive relationship. The position of male and female in a relationship and their social interaction are always the hot topic of contemporary music. In this paper I would like to discuss how this song perpetuates male dominance against female through four aspects in gender-role socialization, including emotion, action, sex and social interaction. Also I would argue about the

Judith Butler talks about how women should break free of this gender identity. She argues that women should be free to choose their own path in life. I think the song "If I Were a Boy" would relate to this article because Beyoncé was reversing the roles in a way. She wanted to show the world how it felt to be a man. Women have the right to follow their own path and not be suppressed by anyone.

The emotion she uses pertaining to her own life personal experiences helps to catch the audience’s attention so that it is more relatable to their own experiences. The song includes details of her divorce, describing her husband leaving her for another girl, however her main point to

Music is a very dominate tool to connect with listeners and get across the intended message they are singing about. Using a music video, the song is brought to life and gives viewers a visual image of what the song is portraying. Beyonce, a singer, songwriter, and actress, uses this idea to illustrate an issue that is so close to her. Although born and raised in Houston, Texas, Beyonce comes from parents raised in Alabama and Louisiana. Coming from a family in the South, she is very aware of her cultural originality and very passionate about it. With this in mind, she uses her music video for “Formation” to get across the issues of Black Lives Matter and police brutality, knowing millions of fans would see. Formation, meaning the evolution

To begin, “Beyoncé’s Lemonade: When Life Gave Us Lemons, We Saved the World” illustrated the central claim that Beyoncé performed her album to articulate black solidarity as well as forgiveness and hope (Miles). As the author, Corey Miles, stated, “Beyoncé’s visual musical album Lemonade (2016) is… important because… the vocal and visual narrative speaks to the historical marginalized experience of black women by both society and hip-hop.” Miles discussed how black women disregarded black men and connected that to the thematic concepts in the first half of the album, such as denial and anger (Genius). Moreover, Miles connected the second half of the album which included “All Night,” to the concepts of hope and forgiveness. Beyoncé wrote her lyrics to forgive the black man, in reference to her cheating husband, to turn back into the independent women she once lived as before the relationship. Miles described how the structure of the work connected to bell hooks’ piece, “Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism,” since that women of color felt as if only white women took part in the feminist movement.

Lemonade is a visual album by Beyoncé and it tells a very personal story about her feelings towards her husband, Jay Z, but it also shows many hidden themes such as black woman, family, violence, spirituality, resurrection, etc. Beyoncé is a very well-known artist and she is known for being a strong, powerful, and successful woman. We were led to think that her songs are about Jay Z’s infidelity towards Beyoncé and reconciliation. This visual album takes us on a journey through a healing process. Each music videos have chapter titles such as Intuition, Denial, Anger, Emptiness, Resurrection, Hope, etc. and it’s connected by a voiceover from Beyoncé reading poetry by Warsan Shire. It starts with Beyoncé questioning her relationship, where

The researchers conducted their study by taking samples of songs released from 2000-2010. These songs selected for this sample were based off a three base-line criteria. “First the song needed at least one rapper lyric, then there needed to be a narrative to or about a woman with no relation to that rapper, and finally it needed to contained terms and emotions associated with philogyny such as love, like, adoration, fondness, and admiration” (Tyree & Jones, 2015, pp. 63). Thirty-eight songs ended up being chosen for this study and the artists who rapped in them fit in these “classic rap categories” which include gangsta, materialistic, positive, and pop. Once these songs were chosen, a textual analysis was conducted to analyze these rap lyrics.

The first song I pick is from Beyoncé’s new album Lemonade and the song is Sorry. The emotions that I get when I listen to this song makes me feel pain for Beyoncé as a person. She is mega super star diva and everyone thinks she lives this perfect life but she went through some horrible situations with her personal life that she did not want the media to know. I do not have paparazzi coming after me every day but I grew up in a very conservative house hold were family problems stayed in the family. This song allows that feeling of never being able to express what I wanted in order to save someone else’s face. She says in the background “I ain’t sorry” for the duration of the song to represent that she has a limit and it’s her truth so why can’t

The lyrics are visually in the music video. The video describes the past and present insight into the female’s life , this shows it by while she is attempting she is still failing , going on dates such as swimming, picnics and dancing together and while she is thinking of her old memories this is mostly shown in black and white and this can make the target audience thinking that the singer is thinking of the past. Katy Perry’s emotions could be interpreted as upset and her body language could dignify the distress and what she’s going through. This gives an effort as it shows the audience that the women seems to be having a hard time and is showing it through her actions and emotions in her face; the audience would recognise this and would sympathise with her as it relates to the lyrics of the song. Moreover, this video reflects upon realistic situations; one that people may have come across, and also could predict that what happened was unpredictable and not expected.

“Pretty Hurts” was created by pop icon Beyonce in 2013. Beyonce’s career started when she joined the group Destiny’s Child. She broke away from the group in 2003 to become a soloist. The song “Pretty Hurts” portrays the immense pressure females feel in our generation to be perfect. The lyrics “Perfection is the disease of a nation” and “Blonder hair, flat chest TV says bigger is better, South beach, sugar free Vogue says Thinner is better” Shows the unfair expectations put on females today by society, and it doesn't matter if you're curvy or too thin people will still judge you anyway. The song also shows the want girls feel nowadays to be perfect because of trends on social media and societal expectations with lyrics like “ But you can't

In Beyonce's song, "Pretty Hurts," her purpose of the song was to show that pretty is not as easy nor pretty. Throughout the song, Beyonce is showing that pretty can hurt you in many ways, including physically, mentally and emotionaly. For example, on line 13-16, she says, "Shine the light on whatever's worse. Tryna fix something. But you can't fix what you can't see. It's a soul that needs the surgery." In those lines Beyonce is saying that you can't change

Beyoncé's  "If I Were A Boy"  is a song about gender stereotypes, expectations, and their consequences. The music video for  "If I Were A Boy"  follows Beyoncé's character as a cop who treats her husband coldly; opening the videoshe and her husband say a few words like "honesty," and "commitment," then she wakes up to a fresh breakfast made by her husband, only taking a bite before sauntering off to work with barely a smile. All throughout her work day she acts flirty with her male co-worker; while her husband picks out a gift, she goes out for drinks and ignores his phone calls; when Beyoncé and her husband go out to a party he gives her the gift and for a moment they seem happy, but once they get there she ignores him and dances with her work